Simplon is one of those beautiful and good ideas that sometimes emerge in the digital world. Learning it will return soon on Marseille is therefore excellent news. Simplon presents itself […]

Simplon is one of those beautiful and good ideas that sometimes emerge in the digital world. Learning it will return soon on Marseille is therefore excellent news.Simplon presents itself as a « social factory of coders ». This network of training institutions has set itself the goal of responding to the under-employment of certain parts of the population, particularly in sensitive neighborhoods, by offering them training in computer skills. Created in 2013, Simplon currently has some fifty « factories », including thirty in France but is no longer present in Aix Marseille Provence.

Reviving Simplon PACA

A Simplon Marseille has yet existed. Hosted by the Ecole Centrale de Marseille in the form of a franchise, it has hosted three promotions. Last October, the school decided to fly on its own by creating Passerelle Numérique, a similar training program independent of Simplon. It was on this date that Simplon offered Laurence Bricteux, a well-known figure of the Marseille innovation scene already involved in Simplon Marseille, to revive Simplon PACA.
« They offered me to develop this territorial unit. We start with a first training at Cannes La Bocca. This time it’s our own factory, not a franchise, it’s Simplon doing everything, with the support of the conurbation, the region and the city, « she explains.
The first Cannes promotion, currently being recruited, will start its courses in March. Simplon now offers a certified bac + 2 training, a real plus for the populations to which the network is addressed. As for content, it is constantly evolving, to stick to digital trends. « We propose new modules on IoT, cybersecurity, for data artisans, … We also think about robotics. In Paris, a module on AI ​​is set up with Microsoft.

Back at Le Cloître

Short courses, from a few days to three months (compared to 7 to 20 months for a classic Simplon training), are also appearing at Simplon. It is with them that the network should remake its first steps in Marseille. Before a launch with great fanfare in September 2018 at Le Cloître, the place dedicated to social entrepreneurship created by Apprentis d’Auteuil in Marseille and currently being finished.
In the meantime, the challenge for Laurence Bricteux will be to convince companies. Simplon should benefit from a national boost as training and apprenticeship are announced as two key issues of the Macron’s presidency. « We have a lot of success stories in Simplon Marseille, with a return to work rate of 70%. What I want to do is convince companies to include in the program from the beginning the profiles they will recruit at the end. We want to stick to the needs of the territory. «
An ambition which will require too getting rid from some very French a priori. « We face the prejudice of companies that tell us we want developers and tell us right after but we want bac + 5.” Programs such as Simplon or Passerelle Numérique are hoping to prove that, with lower levels of training, many business needs can be filled by competent people based right next to them.